It's the @theinkymystery 9th Birthday, happy birthday!
I don't have much right now other than doodles ( my favorite hobby currently is reading this fanfic and drawing scenes and expressions on Ibis Paint jsshsjaj ) but I do have books cover arts I made with overwhelming passion and too much free time! Hehe.
Rarely I see a fanfic start and stay strong for so many years like this one has and for that, I really admire the authors of IM. They're so talented and I want to continue drawing and supporting this story all the way til the end, even if I came in kinda late. ( I didn't read Quest as a child so never stumbled upon IM until 2024. ) Thank you all so much for your hard work!
Drawing these characters is a bit tricky for me but nothing can stop the insane train of inspirations that floods my brain. Also yes I cheated on Book Four cover using a tree pencil leave me alone. /lh
But seriously I suck at backgrounds and wasn't actually planning on posting any of these, but... birthday magic happened, who knows. I hope you at least like these concepts and have fun with me seeing them!
Some funfacts now:
Book Three came in naturally, I had the mental image of the hammer hitting the table and went "Yes. This NEEDS to happen." and here we are. The details were really fun to add and it took me 6h to make it! But honestly I wish I could have made Alice more... recognizable? She looks bland to me but maybe the context of the book helps. I also added some ink to the sick characters photos ( hidden Ortensia and Wakko ) and made the Animaniacs touch the photo frame, because that felt accurate.
As for Book Four, I brainstormed a bit but knew I wanted to make it more of a scenario that could look realistic enough and not the abstract representations of book three, just to try something different. I struggled with it but ended up having the most fun with little details and final effects, it took me 2h. The shadows are supposed to be the shape of Cala Maria and the Cog, by the way. Hehe.
And... I did try to make a Book Six cover but I didn't know how to make my idea work so that's a work in progress. Uh, have the mess I keep in my Ibis.
The idea was to have everyone together either arguing or just standing, my first though was very specific actually:
"I want everyone to be standing together, searching for something. You look at them and you know they're doing that, but theres a weird space in the middle that makes no sense unless you look away from the cover and can see Mickey's silhouette."
It's all fun and games until you have to actually draw it.
Tbh the idea is not even that good so I mignt scrap it but, just wanted to show how insane my thought process goes while brainstorming. I had so much fun just trying to figure it out so I'll share it with y'all. Have my failed cover attempt!
Finished The Instrumment Arc of @theinkymystery, my friends probably hate me now /lh
I doodled a lot.
But first: simple, nice and spoiler-free Sarah Songbird.
Now the insanity.
Spoilers Ahead.
I have spent 17h+ in this singular page just doodling the scenes I couldn't resist doodling. I took one of the doodles for the colored drawing cuz I really liked the pose.
So, uh... let's go slowly.
I brainstormed a Swap AU because I thought it was really really cute the idea of Bendy having a sister. The BBros are absolutely adorable don't get me wrong, but it's just funny to me the mental image of Bendy learning how to do a bow or buying big poofy dresses to please his lil sister who's in love with everything girly. I might do more of that idea later, but for now it's just an idea. I didn't know much about Sarah either by then. Honestly, I'm more inclined now into writing a fanfic for the fanfic in which Sarah lives and they need her around so my girl gets a redemption arc. We will see.
Then I just kinda doodled? The rest is mostly canon scenes and some little ideas. And this.
They're fine.
I need to learn how to draw Bendy, though.
I have many thoughts and I do want to have them fleshed out but, for now, I'll say:
I knew this arc was gonna be insane, from the way people talked about it and the fact that each book has an insane cover on the wiki, not to mention the "horror arch" tag, I knew things were going to get serious. But, actually reading it? Felt like putting together puzzle pieces I can't even properly hold in hands. I always loved the character of Boris and all his little details but the way the authors expanded his mind and way of thinking? How he slowly grew to see the Labyrinth as a way out? As hope? And even though he never liked or trusted Sarah he began to see her as an ally in his pursuit for a fake paradise? Insane. I loved it. And seeing everyone else too, exploring each cast members mind was fun. How they slowly start to lose some sanity to the place around them and how Boris messing with their minds heavily damages them. I thought I was getting a "Boris F#cked Up" arc in The Dark Circus but The Labyrinth just made it so much worse for him. I'm dying to see things going now. I completely understand why is it called "The Recovery Arc", they need it.
Boris just grew on me so much, I adore him now. Fight me, I will protect this wolf with my life. (?)
I don't want this to be long, uh. Okay. I drew this to try and guess Sarah's whole... everything, and her relationship with Boris — by th time I was guessing she would just be plain evil and blackmail him the whole time — and even if I got it not much right I really like the result. I simply couldn't resist drawing her design, is so cute, and wanted to see if this would hold up after the arc.
Love me a morally grey villain, though. She's so mean and cruel and sweet and desperate and immature. Sarah is my favorite villain, there's just no competition.
From her first mentions to her first appearance I love how she felt like this "above all else" figure that could bend reality to her will and that will play everyone as chess pieces and tortured for the sake of pain, but then when she's around, you realize Sarah is terrified. Terrified of pain, of lost, of abandonment, terrifed of being alone and dying. She's a child, without friends or family, having lost the one person she truly loved and now deals with the minds of thousands and the powers of a god when she just wanted a friend. I still can't get over Bendys line of: "You did choose Linda over the Labyrinth, but you died." She has no choice, in the end. That's her home and life. Even if she wanted to follow her friend.
But she's also damn vingative and cruel, the hate she has for Leticia and Michael is insane. The moment she saw them it was cuts for the throat in a heartbeat, fun to see her losing control when she felt so invincible before. Sarah has limited powers and a whole lot of wrath. Her reasoning for hating them is also childish but fitting, Michael is indeed a menace to society but love how Leticia's main crime was being related to Linda. That's enough for Sarah to want blood, and I gotta respect the commitment. (?)
I know she's not actually a child, she's older than the oldest quester, but the way she's written is so charming in the way you can feel how naive and young she feels. It hurts even more that the Instrumment itself, the very center of her existence, kind of abandoned her too; by choosing Boris it erased her after so many years of being a guardian. Technically, not sure if she's totally dead since Boris still hears her and she became part of the Record and she was the first one to betray by trying to follow Linda, I still feel bad for her.
I'M WRITING TOO MUCH. Sorry. Just wanted to share doodles. Have a good day!
Currently at chapter 177, trying to avoid spoilers for the arc I hear everyone talk about. The build up was insane too, and so far I have been enjoying myself. As I slowly make my way into getting the hang of drawing the boys, I made some Holly, Alice and Cala art. I adore my girls, Alice is my absolute favorite character so far.
Firstly, her and Holly. They're very fun to draw with the flowy hair and dresses.
Can I quickly say the world being monochromatic except for the magic is so, so so very cool? Everything about the world building in IM is so creative and full of life, everytime the cast goes somewhere new I'm amazed by the level of details and thought behind everything. I won't tag them to not bother, but ThisAnimatedPhantom, Mercowe and SpectorOdyssey are truly amazing and I just wanted to appreciate their work.
Now, Cala Maria. I used One Cup of Sugar design as ref for the human and mostly the Cuphead canon design for mermaid.
I got a bit worried since I remembered the QFTIM Cala being a character that barely appeared before the comic ended and mostly being head over heels for Mugman as a personality. IM gives her a lot of flavor and depth, though not much has been shown yet, I'm pretty sure she's getting more stuff in the chapters I have yet to read. Either way, she's already way more interesting and likeable.
I have one more. Spoilers Ahead.
The Cog!Holly arc gave me so many thoughts. I got spoiled so I knew that Holly was gonna be a villain and the whole cog situation was gonna happen, but actually reading it was so much fun. The runes, the magic, her being called a witch, demons going after her, Xedo having to hide her identity from the public, so many things. Because of that, I wanted to try something different.
Perspective is not my strong suit, but I really wanted to try. Hope it makes sense and looks good, I'm personally happy with it. Also tried giving her a different dress from the other drawing.
And that's all I have, I will be back for my other favorite character when I'm more experienced on drawing them, though. Your turn is soon, Felix.
I got this post a bit confused, sorry if anyone was notified and got nothing. Tumblr is a bit confusing to me still, but either way, I have more Freak Show art.
This was all drawn before the Finale and episode 7, but I do have some projects for these so stay with me. Either way, I am quite proud of these and just wanted to share, if that's alright.
Firstly, Mark and Bella. I adore them both.
And @juwhite got me into shipping HolyBrew. Not that it was hard anyway.
Making them blush uncommon colors is probably my favorite part of drawing ship art for this cast.
And Wendigo, since I didn't know she had a ponytail first time I drew her.
Got obsessed with Myth of The Machine, felt it was fair to draw the culprits of my newest insanity. /lh
Actually I just found their channel like, a couple weeks ago, and I actually really like their videos and wanted to draw something. Are the designs accurate? Not sure, I used YouTube Thumbnails as ref.
Do they have a Tumblr? No clue. Please do warn me if they do.
EDIT: Uhhh I forgot to say names I'm so sorry- the channel is YurieTheAwkward go check them out